


The Super-Summer-Romance Plan (That almost failed)

by lovelesslybeloved



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Cute, Fluff and Angst, Haikyuu BB, Kisses, M/M, summer challenge, the universe is against this
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-31
Updated: 2015-08-31
Packaged: 2018-04-18 09:26:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 17,693
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4700834
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lovelesslybeloved/pseuds/lovelesslybeloved
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Noya decided 135% that even though this is the last summer to spend with Asahi before the gentle giant goes off to college that he just absolutely HAS to tell him how he feels. Of course team Karasuno has a couple plans for this summer to help out the Guardian Deity so long as everything goes smoothly!</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter One

**Author's Note:**

> I'd like to thank my Artist who did lovely fanart of this story before I even got through the first chapter, They are keitsukishma on tumblr and my beta who suffered through my horrible procrastination and many grammatical errors, brilliantlydisturbed on tumblr! 
> 
> This is also to a few people who worked hard on making this happen.

Chapter One: “How does the whole team know but you can’t seem to notice that I never stop looking at you.”

The squeaks of sneakers pulling bodies to a quick stop across linoleum, and the dull thuds and resounding smacks of a ball whirling through the air, were the only sounds in the gym for a while. It was a practice game and while the team might mutter a “don’t mind, don’t mind” or “nice receive,” it was all focus and strong purpose as the ball was rallied back and forth over the net. The Spring Tournament was going to be the last official matches they would play with the third years and it was heavy in the minds of all the underclassmen.   
One underclassmen in his second year was especially fixated on it. Nishinoya Yuu was anxious about the change, overwhelmingly so. It was really only the tension of being in a game of volleyball that he could stop thinking about the third years moving on. Nishinoya hasn’t even been able to ask the upperclassmen their plans. They could just be staying around town and he was worrying about nothing.   
His elbow burned fiercely as he dived after a ball behind the front line of blockers without thinking. It was painful and a close receive but he made it and the ball flew back up into the air. He barely managed to get back up on his feet and out of the way as Tanaka ran up to hit a spike that Sugawara had set. It was a rough practice game, the first years not giving much room for spikes. It wasn’t the pressure of the third years leaving that had the first years fired up however. They were just on their game today, unlike Nishinoya apparently who finally had a moment to glance at his bloodied elbow now that the ball had fallen in their court. Point to the first years.   
He grunted and felt frustrated with his own lack of concentration and when he looked away from his arm, his eyes found the direct source of his issues. Azumane Asahi.   
The third year hadn’t changed much in the two years that Nishinoya had known him. All long hair and a pile of nerves. It was… adorable really. That was the only way that Nishinoya could even begin to describe the giant. It wasn’t always that way of course. There was a time where Nishinoya was a straight shooting gun that was locked fiercely onto Kiyoko-san. Somewhere along the way though, Nishinoya found his eyes diverting to that man bun more and more as the two years passed. Now Nishinoya found that all his interest and focus were either in volleyball, or their ace and it was becoming a bit of an issue now that the ace was graduating.   
Which brought Nishinoya full circle to his issue. Asahi was leaving and the giant full of nerves and worries still, as far as Nishinoya knew, wasn’t even aware of his affections for him. Which would be fine except the Guardian Deity felt like he was going to explode if he didn’t tell Asahi before he graduated.   
“Noya!” the call brought Nishinoya’s eyes and senses to hyper focus as he glanced for the source only for Tanaka to push Nishinoya out of the way and receive a ball that would have knocked him right in the teeth.   
Nishinoya laid on the ground staring up at Tanaka for a moment as the other looked back at him, a little lost at how Nishinoya could be so off his game. It was so incredibly unlike him and it was bothering him. It was bothering the team.   
“Nishinoya why don’t you go take a breather for a minute okay?” Daichi came over and clapped him on the shoulder with a reassuring smile.   
Amber eyes flickered away from the captain to where Asahi stood nervously in the corner. The Ace apparently wasn’t aware that Nishinoya had been spacing out on him when the ball almost hit him. Which was good, Nishinoya supposed in some ways. In other ways it still left him with this problem. Daichi was still looking at Nishinoya expectantly so he glanced back up, nodded a short curt nod and turned heading towards the bench.   
Being benched didn’t bother Nishinoya as much since it was a practice game but he didn’t like not being there for his team. Which made this situation all the more horrible for Nishinoya and his team. He needed to get his head in the game. He leaned down a bit, resting his elbows on his knees and grasping his hands together to try and alleviate this nagging sensation in his brain. His knee was about to start bouncing as tension pulled at this muscles when he felt soft fingers brush his forearm.   
Eyes shot up looking fierce and ready to snap till recognition had him sagging a bit. Kiyoko stood over him holding a small first aide kit in her hand.   
“Your elbow is still bleeding.” she pointed out glancing down at his arm, then back to him, “Would you like me to bandage it for you?”   
Staring dumbstruck for a moment he nodded slowly, “Y-yea sure.” the words were barely murmured from his lips.   
She nodded and sat down next to him straightening out his arm and opening the case she had sat on the bench with her. He’d be lying if he said he wasn’t staring at her. She was really beautiful and for a moment Nishinoya wished that things were easy and that he still like-liked her. The way he liked Asahi now. He groaned a bit and felt his head hang as she dabbed rubbing alcohol over the scrape. It burned a bit but no worse than actually receiving the wound. If she thought he was groaning from pain or not, Kiyoko stayed quiet as she worked on his arm. He opened his eyes again to watch as she put some ointment on it to help the scrape heal faster before opening a plaster to place over the raw skin.   
Once she finished, Kiyoko closed the small first aide kit and stood back up, “You should make sure everything is okay before you go back out there. Those boys all depend on you.”   
Yea, like that didn’t inspire the nerves to tremble in Nishinoya. He was well aware how important he was for this team. He nodded slowly then realized that it really wasn’t reassuring before he jumped up from his seat and grinned with wild abandon.   
“Don’t worry Kiyoko-san! I told the team before that I’ll always have their backs and that’s still one hundred percent true!” he announced boldly causing a few glances from his team mates as Asahi leaped up into the air, spiking a toss down with so much force it drew Nishinoya’s attention immediately.   
Kiyoko looked at Nishinoya oddly for a moment before she followed his trained gaze over to the ace who was recovering from a hard landing, the angle of his jump had been a bit awkward. Her eyes widened behind her glasses for a moment before she looked back at Nishinoya a little surprised. Her eyebrows were quirked a bit in curiosity before she turned away and headed back to the storage room to return the first aide kit from where she had retrieved it earlier. What a surprising turn of events. 

 

The practice game ended without any other issues and after sitting out one more point, Nishinoya returned to the game. Though he did steal a few more glances at Asahi, his head stayed in the game till the end this time. Finally the game finished, the seniors ended up winning but it was close and only by a few points.The loss however was felt by the first years. Hinata looked especially upset and he dragged his feet behind Kageyama as everyone cleaned up the gym. Tanaka however was still fired up and practically tackled Nishinoya to the ground as he leaped on him roaring.   
“NOYA! Did you SEE my last spike there! I was on FIRE today! WHOO!” he howled and laughed roughly as Nishinoya chuckled with him.   
“I did see it! It was a good spike! Good job my man!” Nishinoya lightly punched Tanaka’s ribs playfully as he walked and gathered the rest of the balls that had been scattered about it.   
“But dude where were you in the beginning of that play? I haven’t seen you so distracted before in a game.” Tanaka asked and then made a big point of leaning down to whisper closer to Noya’s ear, “Is it the BIG problem?”   
“Shut UP” Nishinoya announced quickly, shoving Tanaka’s bald head down further the taller second year started cracking up.   
It had been difficult coming to terms with his feelings but once he was sure, he had to make sure he wasn’t crazy about it. He thought about asking a lot of people about it actually, but really when he reconsidered it the obvious choice had been Tanaka. Tanaka was his best friend and his best wingman! He would never leave him out of the loop like that.   
“Not now man…” he mumbled his eyes scanning around the gym taking note of who was near by and who wasn’t, “But yea it is the Big problem.” he grumbled out afterwards.   
Tanaka sucked his teeth creating a “tsking” noise as he straightened up and walked off, bummed he couldn’t chat about it now. If Tanaka had to be honest, it had been a bit..weird. At first. The idea that Nishinoya liked a guy wasn’t exactly conventional and Karasuno residents weren’t always so open minded or accepting. That totally wasn’t the problem though, he just needed some time to wrap his head around it. Come to understand it more clearly and gain some more information and insight! After of course he made sure that Nishinoya was REALLY sure. It wasn’t that Tanaka had felt awkward about it but he really just did not get it. Which was okay he supposed, but he felt better when his sister sat down and explained things to him properly. He felt a little childish needing his sister to explain but after they were done chatting he felt one hundred percent behind his buddy again.   
After getting used to it, things went back to normal. It certainly helped that, despite Noya’s interest in Asahi, he still admired Kiyoko for her beauty giving something for Tanaka to work through to accept all this. It was a change and Tanaka managed through it.   
They were just about done with clean up, the first years racing now, okay really it was Hinata and Kageyama who were racing about to sweep up the gym. That left Daichi supervising, Sugawara hanging around to keep him company. Ennoshita and Asahi were heading in the direction of the club room to change for the day, Kinoshita and Narita were trailing close behind them chatting between themselves quietly. It left no room for Nishinoya to dart up to Asahi practically.   
Frowning, Tanaka came up and started pulling Nishinoya to the club room, “Just because you can’t walk there with him doesn’t mean you can’t go there yourself. C’mon man let's go.”   
Nodding a bit, Nishinoya allowed himself to be dragged along in the direction of the club room. His eyes really never leaving Asahi as he was just getting to the top of the stairs. There was however a small benefit to this entire situation. He had the perfect view, right between Narita and Kinoshita, of Asahi’s behind. His shorts slipping up his long powerful thighs. It was highly enticing and Nishinoya took the full opportunity to watch.   
Meanwhile the goofy expression on his face didn’t go unnoticed as the first years were darting out, Sugawara watching after them as Daichi locked up the gym.   
“Daichi-san…” Suga nudged him a bit to turn around.   
Humming something of an acknowledgement, Daichi turned around and glanced to where Suga had been motioning. It took him a moment to realize it, nothing looking critically out of place as the second years and Asahi climbed the- his eyes widened as he locked onto Asahi and his eyes trailed down the stairwell to Nishinoya with a silly expression on his face, his eyes locked onto the ace’s backside.   
“Well what do ya know?! Look at our little crow’s growing up!” he grinned widely pushing his shoulder against Suga’s shoulder affectionately.   
“Indeed, indeed!” he chuckled a bit bumping back against Daichi as they began walking towards the club room stairwell.   
Pausing though midstep they both shared a concerned look, “But... do you think?”   
“That Asahi knows? Probably not.” Daichi furrowed his eyebrows in concern.   
“Maybe we should help them?” Suga asked a bit curiously leaning into Daichi’s concerned field of view.   
“Maybe” Daichi confirmed nodding a bit slowly as he considered, “Let’s chat with Nishinoya about it then.”   
The captain and vice-captain headed up the stairs carefully to the club room. Already the first years were almost done changing and the rest of the team wasn’t too far off from being done. Nishinoya seemed to be taking his time, apparently still distracted by a certain shirtless Ace as he paused in changing his own shirt to speak to Ennoshita about the variances he uses in his serves.   
Tanaka leaned over and elbowed Nishinoya in the ribs to pull him back, “OUCH! Jeez man!” Nishinoya swung for him but didn’t put much effort into making contact and missed.   
“Let’s go man. You want that Popsicle? Then we gotta go now!” Tanaka had finished changing as well.   
“You can't rush this” Nishinoya gestured to himself carefully and waggled his eyebrows at Tanaka who groaned and rolled his eyes in response.   
Nishinoya was just getting his locker open when Daichi and Suga entered the club room. Asahi had finally finished changing and was getting ready to leave. The third years nodded to each other as they passed. Then Asahi was gone, and Nishinoya almost felt back to normal as he finally got his clothes out and started changing.   
“So Nishinoya..” Suga slid over to the Guardian Deity and sat on the bench grinning.   
“Yes…?” he asked his shirt hanging off his arms as he pulled his head free from the garment.   
“Tell me about Asahi hm?” Suga could not possibly be grinning any wider and Nishinoya realized he had nothing in his mouth but he about choked regardless.   
“AH! HAHA! What do you want to say? I mean he is our ACE!” Nishinoya tried to look almost anywhere but at Suga directly.   
Daichi came over and clapped him on the shoulder a bit rougher than Nishinoya was used to- was this what Asahi usually experienced?   
“It’s okay Nishinoya, Asahi is gone. We pretty much all know.” Daichi glanced around the room.   
The first years who had been about to leave after Asahi, Hinata had been waiting to ask him about his spikes, had paused when Suga had slid over to Nishinoya a bit curious. The second years were still mostly changing and with Suga and Daichi that had the rest of the team sitting here with Nishinoya except Asahi.   
“HOW DO ALL OF YOU KNOW EXCEPT HIM?!” Nishinoya cried out and fell to his knees tugging at his hair.   
It was completely ridiculous! If he was apparently this obvious to the rest of the team, how had the gentle giant NOT noticed?! It was really unsurprising when Suga began chuckling lightly and everyone else gave an amused expression. Hinata had a glint in his eye that spoke volumes about how much admiration the kid had for Nishinoya.   
“So when are you going to confess?” Yamaguchi inquired, breaking the ice and asking the main question.   
“I don’t even know! I’ve never had a crush that I intended to confess to! I’ve never even been confessed to myself! How do you even confess to someone?!” Nishinoya glanced around the room.   
He knew some of his teammates had at least been confessed to by other people. He wasn’t sure if they had confessed to someone else themselves though. It was a delicate point in their lives where rejection could be world shattering. Nishinoya swallowed heavily ready to take any advice however. He wanted to do this no matter what.   
Hinata was practically vibrating as he rushed forward and grabbed Nishinoya’s hands confidently.   
With stars in his eyes he began, “It’s gotta be ROMANTIC Nishinoya-senpai! Like not WHOOSH but more ZING. Or maybe SHAOW! You can’t just be rough with Asahi-senpai, he is super breakable!” Hinata announced, nodding wisely about the whole situation.   
Rolling his eyes Tsukishima mumbled, “Now the bouncing idiot thinks he can give romantic advice. The only thing he could romance is a volleyball.” Yamaguchi chuckled a bit but the comment went unnoticed by Hinata, and Kageyama gave a pointed glare to the bespectacled blonde.   
“You moron, how can you even say that? Nishinoya-senpai isn’t going to understand any of that! Besides what experience do you have to back that up?!” Kageyama said, ignoring Tsukishima, coming over and all but dragging a struggling Hinata back towards the door.   
“But Asahi has pretty hair like a girl and that's how you romance girls!” Hinata exclaimed seriously.   
“Just because Asahi has pretty hair doesn’t mean I should treat him like a girl, Shoyo. I appreciate the attempt though.” Nishinoya smiled lightly at his Kouhai and looked around the rest of the club room.   
“No wait.. I think there might be some merit in that idea. I mean he has a glass heart so what better way than to be gentle and romantic?” Suga asked, his fist hitting his open palm accepting the idea, the gears working out a plan.   
“Yea I mean he gets upset just by people giving him weird looks! You’d have to be gentle with anyone like that!” Tanaka announced jumping up.   
“Really, you think so? I’m not even sure what counts as romantic? Should I ask him to see a movie or something?” Nishinoya asked feeling a bit hopeful.   
Tanaka could not respond fast enough, “No. Absolutely not. Knowing you, you’ll want to see some loud, western action movie and that’ll just terrify Asahi-san. No movie dates!” Tanaka announced boldly.   
Frowning, Nishinoya hung his head a bit, “Then what should I do? I’m losing time…” he grumbled.   
“Well our summer break is coming up. Why not do something with the time?”  
Ennoshita asked closing his locker and moving towards the door.   
Daichi caught him by the collar and kept him there, “Yea we can make a big plan and help you out the best we can!”   
“You guys would do that for me?” Nishinoya asked wide eyed and hopeful.   
“Absolutely! You’ve had our back long enough, it’s time to return the favor!” Suga said standing up and grabbing a notebook from his bag to begin writing up a timeline and ideas.   
\-------  
Asahi was just about home when he felt it. That small nagging sensation right in the back of his- ACHOO! The sneeze shook his body almost making him trip.   
“That's odd I don’t usually get summer colds…” he mumbled clearing his nose with his handkerchief.


	2. Chapter Two

Chapter Two: “This is the best party and your first chance to confess- YOU DIDN’T GET HIM A GIFT?!”

 

As it turned out, team Karasuno had some pretty fantastic ideas about how to romance Asahi and confess to the gentle giant. Of course some had better ideas than others, and some had altogether more ideas than others. Tanaka for instance had one idea and that was to name this overall idea, The-Super-Summer-Romance-Plan. Hinata and Kageyama came up with the idea to do a beach trip, Kageyama sold it more as a training camp for volleyball on the beach but that was okay. Daichi mentioned that he, Suga and Asahi went to the summer festival every year together. Ennoshita had suggested throwing the third years a graduation party once school let out. The first one that was possible to confess at happened to be the graduation party.   
Nishinoya could lie and say that he wasn’t nervous and excited simultaneously, the two emotions warring inside of him till he could potentially throw up at any second. Or he could be honest and rush towards the bathroom for the third time to dry heave for a while with nerves.   
It was still a week before the party but Nishinoya had taken the reins in planning it and decided to even make it a surprise from Daichi and Suga about the details. All they knew was the fact that there was a party.   
The hardest part had actually been finding a place large enough to host the event. Karasuno wasn’t a small team anymore with officially, sixteen people. None of the parents he had spoken to were willing to have that many people in their small home. The only family remotely willing to help was Tanaka’s family who owned a restaurant, offered to cater wherever Nishinoya could book. This left the problem with a sixteen-year-old boy trying to book venue for a party. It didn’t seem likely that anywhere would let him specifically, so he turned to his adult coach and teacher to assist him.   
“You want to book a party Nishinoya-kun? I’m not sure we have that in the budget after the beach training camp the third years booked for everyone.” Takeda-sensei commented looking through the budget book and making concerning noises as he tried to figure out some way to make it happen.   
It was after school just before volleyball practice, Takeda-sensei and Coach Ukai were sitting on the bench going over the schedule and budgets when Nishinoya had stepped up to them with his request. It was worth a shot to try though honestly Nishinoya didn’t have many other hopes to work with.   
“Ahhhh… You stinkin’ kids. Alright. I’ve heard enough about this stupid party. We can host it out back of my folks place. But we aren’t providing the food! That’s up to you okay?!” Ukai grumbled ruffling the back his bleached hair roughly.   
Nishinoya’s eyes lit up like stars, “Absolutely Coach! Thank you so so much! I’ll plan everything and you won’t need to do anything but open the door! Thank you Coach Ukai!” Nishinoya formally bowed at the last call before straightening up quickly.   
The coach waved him off as Takeda-sensei glanced at him concerned. Nishinoya dashed off to start practice with the rest of the team, he was receiving spike practice for starting warmups.   
“Are you sure about that Ukai-kun? That’s going to be fourteen teenagers… “ Takeda-sensei murmured as their attention turned to the boys, Sugawara and Kageyama taking turns setting for the team to spike practice as Nishinoya rolled around, dashing between the balls, returning them, his game clearly on point today.   
“How can I say no to these stupid kids when a simple party puts him in focus. He’s been off the past two weeks and this is the first time since then that he’s picked up his pace and really gotten involved. If all it takes is one night, my family and I can host it. Not a problem.” Ukai muttered before giving a wink to Takeda-sensei.   
“Besides, as their supervising teacher you’ll need to attend as well right? We should hangout more often!” Ukai grinned brightly over at Takeda who looked skeptical but a light dusting a pink covered his cheeks.   
“I uh... Suppose so yes.” Takeda mumbled and glanced at Ukai a bit from under his lashes before adding, “If you don’t mind having me.”   
“Not at all!” Coach Ukai straightened a bit returning his focus to the kids playing volleyball.   
Practice continued without anything noteworthy occurring except that Nishinoya was on cloud nine. He was so happy and hyper focused that not a single ball got past him that day. His brightening clearly had an affect on the team because they had never practiced as well either.   
The end of practice drew the day to a close for the third years but the rest of the team stayed behind in the club room to discuss the events for the party. Nishinoya shared that between Coach Ukai offering his family’s home and the Tanaka family offering to cater- the main issues for the party were covered. All that was left was music and decoration. Usually Kiyoko-san covered decorating for parties but as a third year, she was forbidden from assisting with the prep work. However another female seemed more than capable. Eyes glanced around the group to land on Yachi who looked a bit uncomfortable next to Hinata.   
“Me?!” she squeaked.  
“Well yea! Who else could make the party look as good as Kiyoko-san!” Nishinoya announced.   
Ennoshita butted into the conversation to bring collateral damage down to a minimum, “Only if you want to Yachi-san. Plus, don’t feel pressured to do anything more than your regular duties as a manager in training.”   
Hinata glanced at her with big amber eyes, way too intense for a moment before he smiled brightly, “I know you would do a fantastic job Yachi-chan!” Hinata announced.   
She stuttered for a moment looking at him baffled but nodded slowly, “O-okay! I’ll do my best!”   
The team all mumbled encouraging words and some even offered to assist. She promised to let them help if she needed it. The rest of the meeting was basically going over the times and specifics of the party. Dress code was established as a business casual since it was a send off party. Once the meeting was finished Nishinoya rushed home. The party was in three days and he had to get his outfit and his gifts together!   
\----  
Three days turns out was just enough time for Nishinoya to consider procrastination and completely put off gift getting and outfit assembling. The day of the party he was suppose to arrive an hour early to assist in decorating and setting up. However he had to leave twenty minutes before that hour to actually get there and he had an hour till then to get ready. He sat there staring at his suit that was too small.  
Really it was the jacket that was too small. His shoulders had apparently made some gains in broadening since he entered middle school when his parents had bought him this suit. He groaned a bit and rubbed his face. What was he going to do!?   
His brain cranked through his options in a moment and he decide to forego the jacket all together and simply wear a vest over his dress shirt and tie. It was casual so perhaps this would be okay?   
He started getting his dress shirt on when a knock came at his door. Perplexed he turned to face it.   
“Ah.. just a moment I’m getting dressed.” Nishinoya announced as his fingers fumbled with the button and, pop.   
He froze standing perfectly still as his mother said something or other from the other side of the door. His eyes scanned the floor and he only relaxed a breath when he spotted the clear button on the floor.   
“MOM!” he all but screamed and the door to his room tore open as she stepped in, panicked.   
“What?!” she asked and stopped short when he thrust the button to her.   
“Mom! Quick! I have a party! My only dress shirt! The button!!!!” he couldn’t make her feel the urgency he was feeling but he hoped he conveyed how important this was.   
“Yuu.. I don’t have time to sew a button on! I was trying to tell you that I need to go to the hospital, your younger sister is throwing up.” his mother frowned standing before her eldest son in his underwear and a mid way closed dress shirt.   
Nishinoya gaped and looked around the corner where his sister sat, bundled up with a mask over her face trembling, tears in the corners of her eyes. He certainly couldn’t be angry but the situation was proving to him that the Universe was against him today.   
Sighing a bit he nodded, “Alright mom there’s nothing we can do then. I’ll safety pin it for now.” he mumbled and looked away.   
She frowned a bit and leaned down to kiss his forehead, “I’m sorry Yuu. I’ll fix it when I get home tonight.” she offered and he nodded.   
“Go, take Hoshi to the doctor okay? I got this. Is dad staying with Miyako?” Nishinoya asked as he moved to grab his dress pants and tug them on.   
“Yes he is though she isn’t feeling too well either. Which... means... we won’t be able to drive you to the station Yuu...” his mother practically winced at her own words.   
Nishinoya whipped around so fast his head spun for a moment. Instead of the five minutes to the station, it would take him fifteen. He only had ten minutes now to finish getting ready and to get out the door.  
“MOM!” he panicked as he tried to grab his tie and get it knotted quickly. His hands were shaking as he fumbled over everything.   
“I know Yuu! I’m sorry! I have to go now. I hope your party is good!” she announced over her shoulder as she turned to move toward Yuu’s youngest sister.   
He groaned a bit as he finally got the tie done but then needed to locate a safety pin to close his shirt up. Of course that took the rest of his time so he was already running late when he got his dress shoes on and dashed out the door.   
He was running towards the station when he about tripped over his own feet. In his procrastination and then rush to try and make this on time, he completely forgot about the presents! He slowed to a stop just near the turn stalls to enter the station. He hadn’t even bought anything but he did make cards. Should he go back and get them? He wasn’t even too happy with them though. He looked over his shoulder at where he had just come. He really ran the risk of being late to the actual party if he went back now. He glanced around again intent to continue walking when something caught his eye. A street vendor was selling various flower bouquets. It was perfect!   
He darted over and after a moment chose a small bundle of branches that contained mimosa blossoms. The seller warned him that most people considered the flowers weeds but Nishinoya shook his head. They smelled really nice and he knew Asahi would appreciate that!   
A short train ride and an even shorter walk later, and Nishinoya was knocking on the door to the Ukai residence. Coach Ukai opened the door and stepped aside to let Nishinoya through. He took his shoes off and picked them up to carry them through the house to the backyard where the party was taking place.   
Tanaka was assisting Yachi in stringing up lights on cords that criss crossed and covered the sky of the yard. They had opted for a late afternoon party and while it wasn’t dark yet, the sky was dimming. Nishinoya had opted to power walk from the station to avoid becoming any more of a mess but now seeing that the work was almost done he felt stupid for even doing that.   
“Sorry I was late everyone... “ he bowed a bit as he set the flowers on the table near the other gifts.   
“Nishinoya please tell me those aren’t for Asahi…” Ennoshita asked cautiously as he approached from the other side, after placing fake flowered garlands around the fence.   
“Um… they are? Unless you tell me that they shouldn’t be in which case they’re definitely not for Asahi.” Nishinoya looked sceptical as he glanced between the delicate flowers and Ennoshita.   
The fellow second year sighed and ran his hand through his hair and somehow the locks fell back into place almost perfectly, “Asahi is allergic to most flowers, remember last spring he had to wear a mask it got so bad?”   
Nishinoya considered for a moment and almost smacked himself in the face. Of course. He remembered wondering if the upperclassman had been sick or something. How did he forget? Blinded by love he suppose, but how could he be so stupid.   
“Then I don’t have a gift for him.” Nishinoya practically physically deflated.   
Ennoshita wasn’t even sure how to help out the libero. There was no time left to run out, the third years would be arriving in the next ten minutes or so. There wasn’t a store nearby the Nishinoya could run to, even at his fastest pace. Ennoshita sighed again and looked away, “Just tell them you headed up the party as a gift to them. It’s a crappy present but its better than nothing.”   
Nishinoya nodded, accepting the offer but it was clear on his face he wasn’t pleased with this turn out. How could he have been so stupid!   
Music began playing softly, nice background sounds so that any lulls in conversation wouldn’t be awkward. He glanced around and wondered if Tsukishima picked the music. It would be like him to do so. No one else really had any taste in music though Nishinoya would argue that he and Tanaka had great taste in music, it was just not to everyone else’s liking usually.   
Finally the third years started showing up. Daichi and Sugawara had arrived together and immediate cheers of surprise and joy were shouted and laughter bubbled up from the two. They almost looked like proud parents if they were maybe older and actually parents. Though, Nishinoya always sort of felt like they would make great parents together someday. There was nothing officially confirmed however among the team it seemed common theory to be that the two were dating at the very least.   
Daichi and Sugawara had drinks in their hands and were chatting with Ennoshita a few minutes later when Asahi finally came in. He didn’t seem nervous but he didn’t exactly seem comfortable as Hinata and Tanaka cheered for his arrival, sparking the rest of the team to give out their own cheers. He smiled a bit shying and bowed his shoulders in, trying to seem smaller. A typical Asahi thing when he wasn’t comfortable with the attention he was receiving.   
He took a few more steps in and withdrew a moment glancing around before spotting the flowers on the table. His face scrunched up and contorted before a fierce sneeze racked through his body. Nishinoya froze. He really was allergic to the flowers. He was so sensitive there was no way he was going to be able to enjoy the party now! Nishinoya wanted to go stick his head in a hole somewhere. He was suppose to have a crush on the guy and he didn’t even remember he had an allergy to flowers!   
Yamaguchi who happened to be standing near by offered a handkerchief to Asahi as he seemed to try and shake off the sneezes that were coming. He accepted and held it over his nose to block some of the pollen.   
“Ah… Asahi are the flowers bothering you? Do you want us to take them away?” Sugawara came up with Daichi trailing behind a bit still chatting with Ennoshita a bit.   
“Mmm I think its too late. I was sneezing pretty hard coming down the street. I didn’t realize I was this sensitive but.. I’m sorry. Did someone get them for you Suga?” Asahi asked his eyes beginning to water a bit.   
“Ug no I originally got them for you Asahi but.. I messed up superbad.” Nishinoya stepped forward, his shoulders slumped and his feet dragging.   
This entire day had been nothing but a disaster from trying to get dressed, to getting here late, to the incorrect gift.   
“Well.. I um.. I appreciate the thought but I… I just can’t accept them Nishinoya. S-Sorry.” he mumbled glancing at the flowers on the table and shuffling a bit more away.   
“It’s okay. I’ll grab em’ and go. I know it won’t do much but at least you won’t have to look at them.” he chuckled a bit and stepped past the third years to grab the branches from the table.   
The flowers trembled and some fluttered to the table as Nishinoya whipped around and about all but ran from the party. He had messed up so bad and there was no way he was going to fix it at this point.   
“Ugh that idiot.” Daichi commented coming up and standing next to Sugawara as the third years watched the Libero leave the party hurriedly.   
“Asahi would you like me to remove the pollen and press the flowers left here for you?” Kyoko asked as she stepped closer to the table and picked up a few of the delicate flowers.   
“Ah! D-do you know how? I would really love that!” Asahi smiled brightly, even behind the handkerchief.  
Kyoko nodded and gathered the blooms in a small bag and setting them in her own bag to take home. “I’ll bring them to you later at one of the practices or events we have coming up.” she bowed gently to him and he returned it.   
“Ah Daichi, Suga what did Nishinoya get you two?” Asahi asked as he slowly removed the handkerchief.   
The air still smelled like the flowers and while it tickled his nose and made his eyes water more, they did smell good. Asahi was a bit upset he couldn’t really enjoy the flowers the way he wanted to.   
“Ah.. he didn’t get us anything. We were told our gift was this party. Nishinoya worked hard on everything and made sure everyone worked hard to assemble this for us. It seems like you were the only one he went the extra step for.” Sugawara nudged Asahi’s side softly with his elbow winking up at him.  
“B-b-but! Why would he do all this and then just leave? I think the best gift would have been to enjoy the evening together with him and everyone here just like this..” he mumbled and looked towards the gift table again.   
“I suppose he got too worked up in trying to have the ‘perfect’ gift for you. Silly kid.” Daichi shook his head and Asahi only had confused looks at Suga passed an elbow jab to Daichi’s ribs as well.   
Meanwhile Nishinoya was already on the train ride home. The stupid flower branch in his hands, clutched tightly and feeling so disappointed with himself. He felt like the worst person to have a crush on someone ever. How could he have messed up so badly? Then just up and left like that too! He’d allow himself tonight to beat himself up about this but come tomorrow he’d need to get back up and be okay again. If he walked into the practice out of whack again it’d throw the whole team off. Besides he still had another chance in a few weeks when they’d all go on the beach training camp together. He just really needed to make sure he didn’t mess that one up too!


	3. Chapter Three

Chapter Three: “Alright, second chance!”

 

It had only been about a week and a half since the graduation party incident. Nishinoya made sure to be on his best behavior with the team so no one would suspect anything but Tanaka was always aware when his best bud was down in the dumps.   
“Come on man, lets hang out this weekend. There is a festival and then we can go back to my place, chow down on more food, and play video games all night. It’ll be the perfect bro weekend!” Tanaka cheered after practice one evening.   
Nishinoya looked up at him and considered. Maybe just some bro time was what he needed right now to get his head back in the game with Asahi.   
“Yea alright man! Let’s do it! I’ll ask my mom tonight!” he grinned brightly, feeling better than he had all week.   
Tanaka grinned and gave him a big thumbs up. They walked home together talking about the movies and video games they’d enjoy this coming weekend as well as all the festival foods they’d consume. At the station, Tanaka jumped on and headed towards his house on the north train while Nishinoya left and took another line west to his house. He arrived home just as dinner was being put down.   
“Welcome home, Yuu!” his mother called as he announced himself home and tugged off his shoes.   
“Hey mom can I hang out with Ryuu this weekend?” he asked as he came into the kitchen, his gym bag over his shoulder to take to his room before he’d change for dinner.   
“Hm.. I don’t think we need you to watch your sisters or anything so I think it should be okay. I’ll double check that your dad doesn’t need you at the salon.” his mother said before shooing her son up to get cleaned up for dinner.   
Nishinoya dropped his bag in the corner of his room as he shot a text message to Tanaka to let him know they were on for this weekend of bro-bonding.  
\---  
The next three days of the week moved painfully slow now that classes had pretty much finished up and all that was left was volleyball practice. Not that Nishinoya didn’t adore having practice almost every day and seeing some of his favorite people day in and out but when one has something they’re looking forward to it drags the days out and makes everything seem impossibly longer to wade through.   
However finally it was Friday night. He had his bag packed and was already on the train heading towards Tanaka’s house. It was a bit of a hike from his house to Tanaka’s house but it was well worth it when he stepped off the train and his best friend was standing there waiting for him.   
“RYUU!” Nishinoya announced practically leaping off the train towards him.   
“YUU!” Tanaka called back pressing up to the turn stalls dramatically.   
They chuckled and Nishinoya slid past the turn-stalls after tapping his pass through. They chatted lightly as they headed towards the Tanaka restaurant and homestead. The Tanaka family was always high spirited and fun to be around and best of all they adored Nishinoya. They entered the restaurant and were greeted by Ryuu’s dad. The man was older and balding but he was sharper than the knives he used in the kitchen. He was intense and always had something yummy for Nishinoya when he popped by.   
This evening was no different as he arrived in time with dinner. The Tanakas were always loud, Saeko and Ryuu usually getting into some argument, their father attempting to break it up then finally their mother yelling to silence all of them. It was almost a comical, cliched setup except for the fact that every so often, Mrs. Tanaka got involved in the argument and everything dissolved into chaos.   
After dinner, Nishinoya and Ryuu headed up to his room to play video games for the rest of the evening until they put on a movie to go to sleep. Ryuu didn’t want to bring it up, imaging that Nishinoya had forgotten that this was the festival that the third years usually went to every year. In fact, Ryuu had forgotten about the festival as well, and until Suga had stopped him the other day out of practice to remind him. Suga however instructed Tanaka to present this idea of going to the festival gently to Nishinoya who seemed to, despite his best efforts, have been negatively affected by the failure of the third year graduation party, and forgotten the festival altogether.   
So Ryuu had gotten the libero to his house and made it sound like it would be all bro-bonding and fun times eating at the festival. Suga had assured Ryuu that he’d make sure that Asahi would be along with them this trip as well and they’d try to “bump” into each other. It was a risky move since Asahi didn’t stay long at the festival but they’d have to try it for Nishinoya’s sake. Ryuu laid in his futon feeling like the best wingman on earth.   
The next morning Nishinoya woke up at his usual time, around 7:30 in the morning. It didn’t seem to matter what time he went to sleep, that’s when he usually woke up. He knew Ryuu wouldn’t be up for another hour easily so he got up and moved to take a bath since the Tanaka’s had a huge soaking tub. In Nishinoya’s house it was a western bathroom with no tub at all, so he always liked to come here for a nice long soak when he visited. He collected his clothes to change into for the day and his shower stuff. He then slipped out of the room silently and down the hallway to the bathroom. He went in and got the water started quickly while he began to underdress to clean himself off. He sat on the bench and after soaking his head in water, scrubbed his hair clean and then started his body, working quickly as the steam from the bath tickled his skin. It was a little cold even with the steam. He sprayed off most of the suds then grabbed a basin of water from the tub and splashed it over himself before turning the water off and stepping into the tub. It was still a little hot, especially to his chilled skin but he settled in and soon relaxed. He sighed softly as he leaned back in the tub. His hair was down and wet now and while he agreed he usually looked better with it down, he couldn’t stand being considered shorter. Maybe he’d leave it down for today though. Ryuu never teased him for his height and if he wanted he could spike it before the festival maybe. His hand slipped out from the water to grab the bleached streak in his hair. He twisted it gently in thought.   
The graduation party had turned into such a flop, he wondered idly if he should even keep trying to pursue Asahi. It was weird after all, liking another boy, wasn’t it? The whole team seemed to support him though. If they supported him and eventually if his family approved wouldn’t that be enough? What if Asahi didn’t approve though? Nishinoya sighed and dipped under the water a bit more, blowing some bubbles.   
He wanted to believe that Daichi and Suga-san would never encourage him into something that would fail. They were Asahi’s closest friends so surely they would know if Asahi liked guys or didn’t like guys, like that. Was Asahi even interested in a relationship? What kind of relationship would they be able to have if Asahi decides to leave for college? Nishinoya had never had a relationship, let alone a long distance one. This was way over Nishinoya’s head. He couldn’t wrap his head around a bunch of what ifs that involved another human being. There were too many variables. This wasn’t like in volleyball where everything slowed down in his brain and he could easily see the path the ball would take. Asahi was complex and Nishinoya wanted to understand him better. The best, really, of anyone if he had to be honest.   
Asahi was so amazing and it was almost infuriating how the ace couldn’t even feel confident to call himself the ace. Nishinoya wished so badly to make Asahi understand how important and amazing he was not only to the team but to Nishinoya as well. It always annoyed him but now it was more like a need to make the other see how incredible he was. Just for a moment. Nishinoya wouldn’t mind spending the rest of his life making Asahi see that moment.   
A knock on the bathroom door brought Nishinoya forward from the water, “Ah yes?” he called in reply.   
“Bro can I join you or what?” Ryuu called through the door before opening it and sliding inside.   
“What time is it? I feel like I’ve only been here a few minutes..” Nishinoya mumbled as he looked at the water a bit as Tanaka stripped down and washed himself off as Nishinoya had earlier.   
“Ah.. It’s almost nine now so I don’t know what time you got up.” Tanaka said rinsing off and coming to the tub to join Nishinoya.   
“Shit man I’ve been in here since like.. 7:30 or so. My thoughts must have stolen the time away.” Nishinoya sunk down again blowing bubbles in the water.   
“It’s alright. You’ve seemed like you’ve had a lot on your mind recently. Good to get it all thought through before it turns worse you know?” Ryuu said sitting back and sliding his hands along the edge relaxing.   
“Mmm, yea maybe?” Nishinoya mumbled and sat up straight, sloshing the water as he moved, “I just feel so stupid from that party, Ryuu! Like all my hard work washed down the drain because I forgot about his allergy!” Nishinoya announced turning to look at his best friend.   
“WHOA! Careful man or you’ll wash all this down the drain too!” Ryuu announced finding the stopper with his foot to hold it steady.   
“Look man, it happened and there is nothing left to do about it now but move forward. We still have that beach trip next week so there is still time. You got this, bro!” Tanaka gave a big thumbs up, small inspiring stars in his eyes.   
Nishinoya could have cried. He, without a doubt, had the BEST wigman in history. The best bro in the bro-niverse.   
“Ryuu you are the bestest best bro a bro could ever hope for. Never change!” Nishinoya sniffled a bit trying to get himself under control again.   
“For real man though, seriously, you need to stop beating yourself up about it. It’s done and Asahi, aside from worried about why you left so quickly, wasn’t even that upset about it.” Ryuu explained looking over at Nishinoya’s reaction to that news.  
No one had bothered to try to talk to Nishinoya about the party since the incident it seemed as the libero looked a bit surprised by that, then a pleased expression crossed his features.   
“He worried about me?” Nishinoya asked a little shyly peeking over to Ryuu curiously.   
“Yea man he asked about why you left for a solid hour afterwards. Though I think he’d worry about a fly leaving too so there’s that too.” Ryuu explained leaning his head back on the tub ledge.   
“That's beside the point Ryuu, he worried about me!” Nishinoya couldn’t have been more ecstatic.   
“I’m happy for you my man really, but stop sloshing the water out of the tub or I’ll make you clean it up!” Ryuu announced trying to stay still to counter the waves of water- it did little though and some did splash out.   
“Sorry, sorry! I’m just really excited Ryuu. I really thought I’d blown it with that party. Now I can head into the training camp with full focus!” Nishinoya was grinning and even his body seemed a little lighter as he sat up straighter in the tub.   
“I’m gonna get out now and get ready.” Nishinoya said sliding along the tub over towards the edge, closer to his towel.   
“Isn’t it a bit early to get ready man?” Ryuu asked glancing around looking for a clock.   
“Ehhh probably but isn’t the festival like.. an hour train ride from here? Oh or do you want to grab some pre-game lunch before we head over?” Nishinoya asked as he stood up and quickly stepped out of the tub, grabbing his towel and wrapping it around his body like a blanket.   
“Mmm I don’t know I don’t want to waste a bit of space eating not-festival-food but we still have so much time till we should be there, you know?” Ryuu scratched at the bottom of his chin and glanced at Nishinoya curiously.   
“Yea I hear you.. Wanna play another round or two, or ten, in Mortal Combat then before we get ready?” Nishinoya grinned at Tanaka who nodded vigorously.  
“You know I am 100% ready for that scenario!” Ryuu exclaimed and jumped out of the tub himself.   
Nishinoya and Tanaka cleaned up the bathroom and headed back to the bedroom to change before plopping down in front of the television again. Ryuu finished changing and glanced at Nishinoya as he started up the system and the T.V.   
“Yuu… Are you not putting your hair up?” Ryuu asked hesitantly as he sat down next to the shorter boy.   
“Mmm yea I was thinking it might be a good change of pace, just casually though! Back at school I’ll be back to full height!” Nishinoya announced scooping up his controller and holding it high, shaking out his arm.  
“Hey man, do you!” Ryuu laughed lightly as they started in on their game play.   
A few hours later, closer to noon they both finished their last round and stood up to stretch and start getting ready. Finally around a quarter till one they were ready to go and say goodbye to the Tanakas to head to the train station.   
The hour long train ride was more annoying than Nishinoya had originally anticipated. At first it was fine since the stop was a quiet local one. But as they got closer to the festival and more people packed onto the train, the more people began to mistake Nishinoya as Tanaka’s much younger brother. Comments of how cute and nice Tanaka was to take his younger brother to the festival floated around them. Luckily, Tanaka was a real bro and politely corrected the crowds, explaining that no, Nishinoya was not his brother and was in fact the same age and his best friend.   
Eventually they made it to the festival and before they even got out of the train station their mouths were watering over the aromas floating around from the festival. The vendors were up and cooking and it smelled delightful! They beelined in and went straight for the takoyaki. It wasn’t really their favorite food however the one vendor that sells it at this festival does it really well, where it’s more octopus than breading and that makes it worth it to cross it off the festival food list.   
The day dragged on and there was a lot of food consumed. After two rounds of the takoyaki they moved on and had three dishes of yakisoba, different toppings every time of course. They took a small break after that to play some games and such. Tanaka managed to get some gold fish for his tank at home. Nishinoya had played yo-yo tsuri and won him and Tanaka a balloon yo-yo. It was fun and one of the games here that Nishinoya was actually good at.  
Once they finished playing the games they walked around the festival for quite a while, looking at all the bamboo and bright colored papers. It was almost twilight when they were turning around coming back from the bamboo displays when Ryuu stopped them by a stand.   
“Let’s make a wish, Yuu.” Ryuu gestured to the stand with a grin on his face.   
Nishinoya nodded brightly and they went over, grabbing a marker and a piece of brightly colored paper. Bending over the table quickly, both boys scrawled out a wish with messy handwriting. It was rushed and sloppy but it didn’t change the weight of their wishes. Ryuu wished for their team’s success at the upcoming Spring Tournament. Nishinoya wished for success with Asahi, whether Asahi accepted or rejected him he just wanted to be able to tell him properly how he felt.   
They took the wishes and walked over to the bamboo nearby to tie them up. Nishinoya ended up having to pick somewhere a bit lower than he’d like to hang the wish but due to his height and all prime spots taken already that’s what he had to pick. He moved to turn around and meet back up with Ryuu who had moved down the row of bamboo for a better spot when he bumped into someone different.   
“Ah! Sorry, sorry!” he bowed a bit sliding away from the other person to get out of their way.   
The person grunted and Nishinoya apparently had no good luck because in turning out of the first person’s way, he bumped into another person.   
“Oh I’m so sorry!” he announced and bowed a little deeper.   
“Um.. Nishinoya?” a deep familiar voice called and Nishinoya’s eyes brightened as he looked up and recognized the person he bumped into.   
“Ah! Daichi-san! How are you!?” he asked grinning brightly and feeling a bit better about bumping into Daichi versus another stranger.   
“I’m well, Nishinoya. How are you? You’ve left your hair down I see.” Daichi smiled ruffling the soft hair.   
Nishinoya batted him off but grinned brightly and nodded, “I’m good too, Daichi-san! I’m here with Ryuu and we’re just getting ready to head back for desserts!”   
“Ah! I think we were too actually..” Suga said sliding up next to Daichi.   
“Whoa! You’re here too, Suga-san!? Are you on a little date?” Nishinoya waggled his eyebrows mischievously.  
Suga’s cheeks colored just a bit as he glanced away and Daichi coughed a bit himself to cover his embarrassment, “Um... No, Nishinoya. We, as a third-year group, are here.”   
Daichi gestured gently behind him to where Asahi was standing up from tying his own wish to the bamboo. It took Nishinoya a moment to realize it but that had been the first person he had bumped into when he had stood up! Dark red dashed across his own cheeks in embarrassment now.   
“A-Asahi-san!” Nishinoya said stepping up to Asahi as he turned towards the other third years.   
“Hm? O-Oh! Nishinoya-san! I.. uh.. actually didn’t recognize you with your hair down!” Asahi mumbled chuckling a bit.   
“Oh um.. yea I.. I decided to leave it down today after my bath.. d-does it look weird?” Nishinoya asked looking away, his hand coming up to toy with the blonde piece, tugging it a bit.  
“No! Er. I mean no... not… Not at all. It actually looks very good on you... It makes your eyes look... more intense.” he mumbled glancing away himself, shyly avoiding the pink dusting across his cheeks.   
“Yea?! Maybe I’ll wear it like this more often then!” Nishinoya beamed up at Asahi brightly and confidently.   
Asahi had to bite his tongue before he said no to that. Asahi also didn’t want to admit that his only reasoning for saying no was because he wanted this version of Nishinoya privately. It was a small joy to see the other so relaxed and out of a volleyball involved situation.   
Nishinoya paused a moment and glanced around, “Ah.. Where did Daichi-san, Suga-san and Ryuu go?”   
“What?” Asahi asked and looked around a bit.   
Even with Asahi’s height neither he nor Nishinoya could find the other team mates. It was a bit frustrating because Nishinoya could swear all three of them were still here just a moment ago. He huffed turning back to Asahi annoyed.   
“Well I guess we'll just have to see about finding them! They mentioned heading back towards the food vendors for dessert! Shall we start there?” Nishinoya asked smiling back to Asahi to reassure the other.   
Nishinoya was very aware of how nervous Asahi got in a crowd so he tried to make this time a bit better than their previous encounter with the flowers. He stayed close as they walked and his pants would have to be on fire if he didn’t admit he loved every brush of their hands together from walking so close.   
They made it to the food vendors but there was no sign of the other three boys. Completely at a loss of what to do, Nishinoya looked up at Asahi, swallowed thickly, pulled in a big breath and asked, “Asahi-san would you like to spend the rest of the festival with me since we can’t find the others?”   
The ace looked a little startled but smiled softly and nodded, “Sure Nishinoya that sounds amazing.”   
Nishinoya couldn’t have gotten any higher than the cloud nine he was riding. They walked around the booths and got taiyaki as well as some chocolate covered bananas, Nishinoya even tried a cold cucumber dipped in miso powder. It had been surprisingly remarkable, the cucumber having a sharp cool refreshing taste while the miso gave it almost a bit of zing. As they ate they talked quietly about school and their team and hopefully making it through the Spring Tournament. Before then even realized it, it was dark and they’d wandered to a pretty decent spot for the fireworks soon.   
Nishinoya paused mid step realizing that this was it. He had messed up horribly at the party but he could confess here! So many other girls, er, people! Confessed at festivals all the time!   
“So um, Asahi-san I really want to tell you something and I just want you to listen, I know I’m being a bit selfish but- “   
The explosion in the background didn’t really startle Nishinoya so much as it did Asahi. The giant about jumped out of his skin and shrank to the ground immediately. Stepping back a moment, surprised, confused and unsure, Nishinoya looked down at the trembling form of their team’s ace and wasn’t completely sure what even happened.   
“A-Asahi-san?” Nishinoya asked tentatively crouching down near the other.   
Another explosion and Asahi tightened in more on himself, his breathing becoming a bit erratic.   
“Asahi-san are you okay?” Nishinoya asked and he could feel his senses sharpening again, akin to being in the middle of a volleyball game, everything slowing down and becoming hyper focused.   
“I...I usually leave before the f-fireworks. I… I can’t handle the loud noise..” he mumbled trembling, his eyes unfocused.   
Wishing for a moment that Nishinoya knew how to handle this situation, how to help Asahi, he quickly dismissed it and got to work.   
“What can I do to help you right now? Do you need to get out of here?” Nishinoya asked looking around for someone who could help them if he needed it.   
Asahi opened his mouth to speak when another series of explosions went off and sent him literally sitting on his ass and beginning to hyperventilate. Nishinoya about fell into a panic attack himself. He needed to act quickly or risk Asahi being in serious trouble.   
“Alright Asahi-san, sit tight! I’ll find Daichi and Suga-san!” Nishinoya announced moving to turn away and runoff in the direction he last saw them.   
A hand shot out and grabbed his shirt. It brought Nishinoya to a grinding halt as he whipped around to look at Asahi. The other male had practically lunged forward, onto his hands and knees and despite his trembling and rough breathing he was grasping onto Nishinoya’s shirt so tightly it might’ve ripped. Nishinoya had a hopeless moment where Asahi wasn’t going to let him find help so the other would simply hyperventilate until he died. A dead Asahi was not happening anytime soon on Nishinoya’s watch so he came back over to the Ace and crouched down.   
The only other incidents of anxiety that Nishinoya ever dealt with was Hinata just before games. Usually making the kid focus on just about anything else worked with him so it was worth trying here with Asahi. Just maybe on a larger scale? Was anxiety proportionate? Like when you have someone small that’s sick they get a smaller dose of medicine than someone larger. Nishinoya wished for a moment that maybe he was a doctor or a psychologist.   
He swallowed thickly and grabbed the sides of Asahi’s head gently, covering his ears a bit. Asahi’s eyes widened but focused in on Nishinoya.   
“Shh Asahi-san, I’m going to stay right here. I’m covering your ears to lessen the fireworks. I want you to focus on me. On the sound of my voice. Take a breath in. Come on now we have to get your breathing under control…” Nishinoya mumbled the words, making sure to keep eye contact with Asahi and not let him look anywhere else.   
It was a long moment of warm honey brown eyes flickering almost anywhere else before they settled onto Nishinoya and stayed there. Fireworks were still going off and Asahi was still jumping and jerking under Nishinoya’s hands but the ace stayed focused and after a couple minutes Asahi was breathing a little better at least. Nishinoya was mainly focusing on keeping Asahi a bit more under control so he didn’t notice when the finale started up around them. This time Asahi jerked and closed his eyes, Nishinoya had lost him entirely.   
There was a swift rush of air around him and then darkness and muted bangs in the air as he was shoved up against Asahi with a piece of fabric pulled over their heads, blocking out stimulation. Asahi was breathing haggardly and was looking startled at Nishinoya again, the libero took the chance like his life would end if he didn’t. He grabbed Asahi and focused in. It was so dark but the sound was even more muted as he covered Asahi’s ears again.   
“Breath slow, Asahi-san” he mumbled underneath the cover.   
Nishinoya didn’t have time to think or care about who had covered them or even what it was that was covering them. He needed to focus on Asahi, use everything he had to keep the gentle giant here with him instead of locked in his mind, surrounded by his fears and anxieties like circling sharks.   
Eventually, the finale ended and Nishinoya got Asahi through the worst of his anxiety attack. It had been a rough thirty minutes in total but they had managed and slowly, the dark cover, Nishinoya realized it was a sweatshirt that had been tossed over their heads, was pulled back to reveal a worried Daichi and an anxious looking Suga.   
“Asahi! Are you okay?” Suga said kneeling down next to the other third year who, aside from being pale and a little shaky and tired seemed no more worse for the experience.  
“I.. I’m okay now, Suga. Thanks.” he mumbled and leaned against the other third year a bit.   
“We’ll help get you home, Asahi. Sorry we completely forgot about the fireworks at the end. We shouldn’t have gotten split up..” Daichi said lending a hand to Asahi to help get him up on his feet.   
Asahi shook his head a bit, “N-no actually I’m okay. I mean that was bad but Nishinoya was here and he helped me a lot actually. So I’m okay. But I do need to go home now.”  
Nishinoya looked up at the third years and felt both happy that he was here to help but also at a complete loss again since he still hadn’t gotten to confess. He was grateful that Asahi was okay at least.   
“Have a safe trip home, Asahi-san! You too Daichi-san and Suga-san!” Nishinoya called as the third years waved goodbye and Ryuu walked up next to him.   
“How did it go?” Ryuu asked curiously as he glanced at Nishinoya.   
“He had an anxiety attack right before I told him. I never got to tell him.” Nishinoya mumbled watching the third years till they were out of sight.   
“Wait! What do you mean ‘how did it go’? You make it seem like this was planned!” Nishinoya announced stepping back and looking at Tanaka sceptically.   
“Dude the festival was always on the plan!” Tanaka announced looking hurt, “You just forgot ‘cause you were upset about the party.”   
Nishinoya sagged a bit looking at Tanaka like he had sprouted a second head. The gears in his brain were spinning for a few moments before almost a literal light bulb appeared over his head in realization.   
“Oh yea..” he mumbled slumping a bit.   
“Hey its okay man! We still have the beach training camp!” Ryuu announced clapping Nishinoya on the back.   
“Alright! Beach training camp will be the setting for Romance!” Nishinoya announced and grinned brightly, and hopefully.


	4. Chapter Four

Chapter Four: “Something about a Charm for the Third time?”

 

As it turns out, the beach summer training camp was not a fantastic scene for romance as first predicted.   
Since coach Ukai and Takeda-sensei were in charge of the trip that was funded through the school budget it was a lot more like a training camp than an actual beach trip, like most of the team had hoped. They had some free time in the afternoons and then after dinner in the evenings but they were all usually so sore and tired they didn’t have the energy to do much else.   
The trip had started off well enough. They’d all piled into a bus at four in the morning on a Thursday. They would arrive around eight thirty in the morning after driving straight through and after an hour for check in and unpacking they’d jump right into practice. They weren’t due to leave until Sunday evening at six, after dinner.   
Of course on the way over, for whatever reason, Hinata still got sick and had to move from sitting with Kageyama to sitting with Nishinoya near the back with Tanaka. The last two and a half hours became incredibly long as Tanaka and Nishinoya took turns soothing Hinata and trying to keep him from throwing up all over the both of them.   
When they finally arrived the hour to check in and unpack turned into thirty minutes and then straight to the beach for warm ups and practice.   
Practice. Was. Hell. They started off with a run down the beach which would normally be enjoyable except that none of the team was used to running on sand so by the end of the three mile run their legs were killing them. Once they were at the net they set up to do spike practice with Nishinoya receiving. Since he was wearing longer shorts he forewent the knee pads thinking the sand would be more forgiving than the court. He was so, so wrong. His knees were getting torn up and he had to have Kiyoko wrap his knees with gauze and ace bandage after cleaning them to continue after only seven receives. It was painful and slow going and everything he knew about the beach was deceiving now.   
After the spike practice was receiving practice. Suga and Kageyama were setting the balls and Ukai stepped up to spike them so most of the team could receive. Most of the team was pretty sore already by the end of this, however after that it was individuals for two hours before lunch break. Everyone broke apart to work on their weak points or even just get in some endurance training by running and doing high impact training on the sand.   
Nishinoya jogged lightly over to Asahi and was out of breath a bit but grinned.   
“Asahi-san do you want to work on spikes from my tosses again?” Nishinoya wasn’t overflowing with energy but he knew he had to work on this if he wanted to become more important for the team’s success.   
“Ah I was going to work on spikes from Kageyama’s tosses right now actually...“ Asahi murmured looking away towards the angry-looking first year.   
“Ah… wait then what is Hinata doing?” he asked glancing around for the mop of orange.   
“He is getting special training with Yamaguchi for serves since he still isn’t very good at them.” Kageyama said from just behind Asahi.   
“...What? Then who is Tsukishima practicing with?” Nishinoya asked totally confused by the break ups within the team.   
“Tsukishima is practicing with Daichi to improve his receives and blocking. Suga-san is practicing with Kinoshita and Ennoshita is practicing with Narita. I think Tanaka-senpai is doing high impact training on his own. That covers the team, Nishinoya-senpai.” Kageyama listed out before glancing back at Nishinoya openly.   
“O-oh. Well then I guess I’ll go work on endurance or something! No mind!” he called and jogged off a bit discouraged honestly.   
That pretty much summed up the entire trip thus far. Get up at six thirty in the morning, train with the team, train not with Asahi, food for lunch break, more team training, free time, more endurance training, then dinner and after that free time till lights out by nine thirty. Friday and Saturday were like this and if Nishinoya had to guess it would be much of the same today on Sunday before they’d leave after dinner.   
Nishinoya got up early today to take a shower before practice. He was hoping the hot water would soothe his muscles but really it just made it harder to run the six miles that was expected of them today. He collapsed to the ground by the time he made it back, his chest heaving. Most of the team was in the same shape, Daichi and Ennoshita the only two managing to stay on their feet- barely.   
“Alright team, everyone up, are you ready for practice regime for today?” Ukai called near the net.   
The entire team groaned and dragged themselves up to go listen to the coach. It was almost painful at the point. It was only eight fifteen in the morning.   
“Alright for practice today… there is nothing. You have the day off okay! But don’t slack off! Be careful with your time and don’t forget sunblock!” Ukai yelled over the group.   
Tanaka roared with victory and ripped his shirt off as the rest of the team cheered and grinned brightly, the news of no more work revitalizing them. Nishinoya too leaped into the air, surprised his legs could give so much lift with so little pain.   
“HEY! Make sure you’re all back here for dinner by four thirty! It’s a little earlier today because we’re doing barbeque and watermelon but I don’t think you’ll mind?” he grinned brightly as Takeda-sensei held up the two large watermelon with shaky arms.   
“Yuu... have you ever heard more beautiful news?” Tanaka asked reaching out to clutch at Nishinoya’s shoulder.   
“Ryuu... I’m pretty sure my mouth is already salivating.” Nishinoya closed his eyes savoring the images of barbeque and watermelon on the beach as his tears formed in the corners of his eyes.  
Most of the team seemed to hit the beach after that. Even Kiyoko and Yachi pulled off their t-shirts and track shorts to reveal swimsuits. The guys had mostly been training in their swim shorts so they really just needed to take off their t-shirts and everyone made sure to put on sunscreen. Nishinoya for the first hour or so simply laid out on a towel. He just needed some time to rest his body before he went bounding into the ocean. Most of the team seemed to reflect that idea, sprawled across the warming sands in various stages of resting.   
Daichi after a while got up and came over to plop down next to Nishinoya and tapped his side lightly, “Noya, you awake?” he mumbled.   
Nishinoya cracked an eye open, grunted and shifted till his head was in Daichi’s shadow before looking back at him again, “Yea captain?” he murmured.   
“This is it. Your last chance to talk to Asahi today. You gotta make it count okay?” Daichi commented looking over to where Asahi was assisting Suga by reapplying sunscreen to his pale back.   
“Huh?” Nishinoya took a moment, his eyes following Daichi’s gaze to Asahi and Suga before the click happened, “OH!” he sat up quickly with alarm.   
“But how?” he asked looking to Daichi a little lost.   
“Huh? Get him somewhere alone and just tell him or something. I don’t know do something only our Guardian Deity could come up with. He’ll appreciate something you do more than something I tell you to do. Trust me.” Daichi said running his hand through his hair, sand falling away.   
Nishinoya nodded and stood up, prepared to march over to Asahi to ask to speak with him. He got over when Takeda sensei called everyone over for lunch time. Nishinoya literally deflated, falling to the sand ground hopeless. He hadn’t even gotten to call out for Asahi this time!   
Tanaka came up beside him and hoisted him back onto his feet, “Come on bro, don’t lose hope! You got this yet! We still have like almost five hours till dinner. You can do this!” Tanaka shook Nishinoya loosely to try and pump him up a bit.   
“Ryuu… it just seems like the universe is against this you know?” Nishinoya sighed but quickly lifted his hands to slap his cheeks and stand straighter.   
“ALRIGHT!” he called and turned, dashing with Hinata and Kageyama who were beelining for the food.   
Tanaka laughed wholeheartedly and took off after the trio. Lunch was light, just some sandwiches really to tie them over till dinner. This however did not stop Hinata, Kageyama, Nishinoya and Tanaka from having almost three or four sandwiches each.   
“Ohhh I’m so full,” Tanaka groaned lightly as he wobbled away from the table groaning.   
“Ryuu, I think it’s more that you just ate too fast. You only had three sandwiches and you and I have eaten much more before.” Nishinoya commented as he walked away sipping from his water bottle easily.   
“Mm maybe. I’ll need to pace myself for the barbeque.” Tanaka got a sparkling glint in his eye as determination burned him.   
Nishinoya chuckled but almost felt his heart get stuck in his throat as he saw Asahi pulling his bun to undo it from his hair. It wasn’t often but on the rare opportunities to see Asahi’s full hair down were such a treat. It always looked so long and soft and anyone who thought he looked like a thug with it was obviously either stupid or blind. It just seemed so well taken care of and gosh how Nishinoya just wanted to run his fingers in it. Get tangled up there and pull Asahi close and-   
Nishinoya fell face first into the sand. Apparently when he spaced out about Asahi he hadn’t stopped walking like he originally thought he had. Lifting himself up, eyes closed shut, his sputtered out some of the sand.   
“Ah! Nishinoya are you alright?” No. It couldn’t be.. could it? Was that Asahi?   
“A-Asahi-san?” Nishinoya sputtered a bit more to get the sand from his mouth as he pushed up more to sit back.   
“Yes, it’s me. Um.. do you want your water bottle to clear your eyes?” Asahi asked and Nishinoya could hear the ace twist his hands in front of him, apparently nervous over the situation.   
“Actually that’s a really good idea. Could you pour it over my eyes for me? I’m afraid I’ll miss if I do it.” Nishinoya would take advantage of this misfortune, even if it ended up embarrassing him.   
“Oh! I... I can help if you want me to, sure.” Asahi said and Nishinoya could hear him move around him but not really knowing where he was, was sort of disorienting.   
Nishinoya almost jumped out of his skin when he felt a gentle hand move along his jaw and tilt his head up towards the sun.   
“Ah sorry Nishinoya, it’s just me.” Asahi said as Nishinoya’s head tilted back further and came to rest on-   
Oh. Oh god. Nishinoya felt the heat rush to his cheeks as he realized his head was resting against Asahi’s shoulder. Asahi must have moved to kneel behind him, or maybe even sitting behind him. Asahi’s bare chest was inches from Nishinoya’s bare back and how was he suppose to relax now, Asahi!?   
“Okay Nishinoya I’m going to pour the water now okay. Keep your eyes shut tight.” Asahi’s breath brushed along the side of Nishinoya’s face and he shivered just the slightest bit.   
It had to have been a good eighty-five or ninety degrees out here in the sun and sand but somehow Asahi’s breath was even hotter and Nishinoya had to shift just a bit because swim shorts could say a lot about a guy in these situations.   
Swallowing thickly, Nishinoya pulled in a deep breath and then nodded. A moment later cold water descended across his face, moving sand away from his eyes. He couldn’t help the small flinch from the impact but stayed calm otherwise. He felt the water slide back along his skull as well, loosening his hair. He didn’t mind though. It was inevitable today any way when he would decide to go into the ocean. Besides Asahi had said he looked good with it down!   
Just as soon as the water had begun it ended. Nishinoya flinched very hard when a soft material moved over his face and patted it dry. Once it was removed he opened his eyes slowly, wary of any sand but found nothing but bright light. He grinned and tilted back a bit more to look and thank Asahi. Or he would have if he hadn’t realized just how close their faces were. There was that heat rushing between two very opposite points on his body again.   
“Ah! HAHA! T-Thanks Asahi-san!” Nishinoya sputtered as he scrambled up to face him properly.   
Asahi stood as well and nodded, “Um.. N-Nishinoya.. I know that the festival wasn’t ideal but... you… you had mentioned wanting to tell me something. If... If you still remember I’ll be glad to answer any questions you have.” Asahi mumbled a little pink in his cheeks as well though Nishinoya couldn’t be sure if it was embarrassment or sun that tinted them that way.   
“Oh... Um... S-sure I just... could we maybe... I don’t... er... Maybe take a walk? For a bit from here? To talk?” Nishinoya stumbled over every single word and felt so stupid for it.   
“Sure! I wanted to walk this other end anyway! We always ran down at the other end and I wondered about it. We might spot Kiyoko too, her and Yachi went this way a little after lunch.” Asahi commented and though Nishinoya for once couldn’t care less about where Kiyoko-san went he nodded enthusiastically.   
They walked a bit and they talked easily about the training camp thus far and how awesome it was for them to have today off as a surprise. Once Nishinoya felt they were a safe distance away he slowed to a stop and turned to Asahi.   
“A-Asahi-san about what I wanted to talk to you earlier about...” he began.   
There was no one around, it was just him, and Asahi, and the ocean and he would be damned if he was interrupted here. This was perfect. This was ideal. THIS was where he would confess to his gentle giant!   
“I’m sorry if this seems selfish but I’ve been thinking about this for a while and... jeez even though I don’t know your plans after Karasuno I still just. I need to tell you about this and see what you think.” Nishinoya began, it was going perfectly!   
“Um okay Nishinoya I’ll try to give a serious reply.” Asahi noted in, hesitant but serious.   
“Okay. Asahi-san I understand if you don’t feel the same way but I just need to tell you that I-”   
“NISHINOYA-SAN!” Nishinoya stopped short and looked around crazed.   
WHO?! Who could POSSIBLY be here, right now, to ruin this for him?! What female was even around right now who knew his- Kiyoko?   
“What is it Kiyoko-san?” he asked coming to meet her as she slowed from her run out of breath.   
“It-It’s Yachi-kun! She got swept out to sea! I just... one minute we were playing in the low water and then... but I can’t! I... I’m not.” Nishinoya didn’t even hear the rest.   
His feet tore through the sand at lightning pace and dove headfirst into a wave. He surfaced and started swimming hard and long out to sea. Luckily, Yachi not only had bright blonde hair that stuck out in the ocean, her orange inner tube was a huge beacon to Nishinoya as he finally started to break through the waves to calmer water where Yachi had gotten swept out to.   
“Y-Yachi-san!” Nishinoya bobbed a bit and jumped up grabbing onto the inner tube where Yachi clung to it shaking a bit, “Are you okay?” he asked panting hard.   
“Y-yes N-Nishinoya-senpai. I-I’m so sorry for the t-trouble I just-just.” Yachi’s eyes filled up with tears as she tried to speak and Nishinoya smiled softly.   
“Shh don’t worry. It’s okay. I’ll get you back to Kiyoko-san!” Nishinoya grinned brightly as he gave her a big thumbs up.   
She nodded a bit and Nishinoya looked at the inner tube thoughtfully. Yea that’d work to start.   
“Yachi-san I’m going to slide in the inner tube with you okay? Just hang on to me. I’ll slide the inner tube on the side and swim us back to shore!” He said and after she nodded and dived down and dipped underneath, emerging next to Yachi.   
Once he was in he tipped the tube over and Yachi wrapped her arms around his shoulders and off he went swimming back. He found that as he got closer to the waves breaking that the water and current did most of the work. They were almost to shore where even his feet could brush the bottom when he heard Asahi and Kiyoko shouting at the water line. Confused he tipped the tube back up and tried to hear them when the water fell over him and Yachi shoving them under the water.   
The wave that crashed over their heads disoriented Nishinoya and without opening his eyes to the burning salt water he had no way of knowing up from down or where Yachi was. He had no choice but to pick a direction and go with it. Swimming hard he jolted when his arms hit the bottom floor of sand. His chest ached and his lungs burned under the pressure of the water around him. He tried to get himself turned back around, the currents stronger here pushing and pulling. Something slammed into his chest and he lost his air, the bubbles escaping rapidly as he breathed in water choking. Strong arms slid around him though and brought him up quickly.   
“N-Nishinoya!” a voice called but through his coughing and the waves he really couldn’t tell who it was.   
“Nishinoya!” was that Asahi? It had to be, that was the only other male voice around here right?   
“Nishinoya open your eyes please!” Yea that was Asahi, polite as ever.   
The light blinded him at first from how tightly he had closed his eyes but he adjusted quickly and blearily looked around spotting first Kiyoko pulling a towel around a soaking wet Yachi who was hiccuping and crying a bit next to her. Good they were okay at least. Nishinoya’s lungs still burned a bit from taking in the salt water. His eyes swung around to the other side and for a moment, he thought Asahi was crying too.   
“Asahi…-san?” he croaked out, gosh his throat hurt.   
“Nishinoya!” Asahi sagged in relief, his shoulders falling and his head falling loose.   
“Were... you... crying?” Nishinoya choked out.   
“Y-YES! I was so scared! You and Yachi-san went under and she came right back up but you were under there for so long!” Asahi said lifting his head quickly, water flew through the air from his loose hair.  
Nishinoya’s eyes widened as a fresh tear spilled from Asahi’s eye and ran down his cheek quickly.   
In the distance he heard yelling and tried to move his head but winced at the pain in his chest.   
“Nishinoya don’t move too much. When you were underwater I must have kicked you some how. You already have a pretty decent bruise forming. I’m so, so sorry but... if I hadn’t kicked you by accident I’m not sure I could have found you.” Asahi mumbled clearing moisture from his forehead.  
He nodded slowly and relaxed back onto the sand shifting a bit to gaze at his chest. Nishinoya sighed softly finding that even expanding his ribs to breath hurt a bit. He supposed that a love mark like this was a good way to start any maybe-relationship.   
“A-Asahi-san I still wanted to tell you that I really l-”   
“YUU! YUU! Oh my god are you alright?!” Tanaka’s shrill voice cut across the distance between them and Nishinoya felt his body sag into the sand.   
Maybe the universe really was against this relationship.


	5. Chapter Five

Chapter Five: “Garigari saves the day."

 

The aftermath of the training camp left Nishinoya completely hopeless and injured. The bruise that had formed over his torso had left no permanent damage and actually now almost two and a half weeks after the incident it was fading nicely. However there was this nasty ache that had settled in and Nishinoya wasn’t sure if it was left over from the bruise or from the heartache at not having talked to Asahi yet.   
They’d be starting school again soon in about two weeks. He’d blown through all three of their major plans for him to confess and nothing had worked. Nishinoya fell backwards from the window he’d been sitting at and flopped on the floor hopelessly. He’d been moping ever since the beach trip failure.   
After his injury, the rest of the team had shown up and helped Nishinoya and Yachi back to the teacher and coach. Takeda-sensei had been worried, and coach Ukai of course was angry that Nishinoya had been injured. The rest of the day, Yachi and especially Nishinoya were banned from the water. When Hinata came up asking Asahi to come play chicken in the water against Yamaguchi and Tsukishima, Asahi couldn’t find a good reason to decline. So Asahi tied his man bun back into place and ran over the sands to the water’s edge to go play with the rest of the team. Nishinoya had lost his opportunity.   
The rest of that day had finished in a blur after that, as did the past two weeks really. Nishinoya mostly just went through the motions of functioning. He wasn’t allowed at training last week and was on light duty this past week. The upcoming week they had off from practice all together to recover before classes started back up.   
Today his mom had left early for work and his father had taken Hoshiko and Miyako to work at the salon. So Nishinoya was left home alone with nothing much to do. At least when his sisters were home he had to pretend to be happy and relaxed during summer vacation. Now with no one here he felt lonely and out of sorts about what to do with himself.   
Still laying on the floor from where he had flopped back earlier, he glanced over at his phone wishing Tanaka or even Hinata would message him. He hadn’t really seen the others outside of practice, and since it was summer practice they usually got there at eight in the morning and didn’t leave till around seven at night. It was a long day that left the entire team dragging their feet to get home, let alone to get garigari or meat buns.   
Vibrations along the floor had his eyes focus in on the phone that he had been staring past anyway. He scrambled to grab it and flip it open, his eyes scanning across the screen unsure he was really seeing the words properly.   
He could certainly say what he thought the screen said. That he just received a text message from Asahi Azumane at 13:06 on August tenth but that just couldn’t be. In fact aside from group texts to the team, Asahi had never sent a message to Nishinoya. His fingers couldn’t move fast enough to open the message and somehow his eyes just couldn’t absorb the words correctly. It looked like Asahi was on his way over to his house but... How did Asahi even know where he lived?   
Another text message arrived as he sat staring at the message from Asahi on his screen. The message was from Ryuu and at first Nishinoya was going to disregard it but then another message came from Ryuu and giving out an annoyed huff, Nishinoya switched screens to look at Ryuu’s messages.   
“ ;) Good luck my man!” message at 13:10 and, “Hope you don’t mind I shared some info to the team”.   
Nishinoya almost wanted to simultaneously hug and strangle Ryuu. Asahi was on his way to his house and if he remembered it was just about a thirty minutes trip. He had spent at least ten minutes sitting here disbelieving and now had twenty minutes to either a) reject Asahi from coming over at all or b) get the house and himself ready for a visitor. For Nishinoya who had been harboring romantic feelings towards his team’s ace for well over a year now, this decision seemed obvious.   
He scrambled off the floor and went into a frenzy to clean his room, throwing dirty laundry in the basket in his closet and collecting the dirty dishes to take to the kitchen. He wasn’t sure when the last time he’d cleaned this quickly was, but within ten minutes he had the first floor of his house clean enough to accommodate his crush. Next was himself and only ten minutes to spare. Nishinoya jumped in the shower and scrubbed himself clean before flying out of the shower, and bathroom altogether to his room. He found the cleanest, and nicest pair of shorts he could- No. Asahi saw him in shorts everyday! Something different to make this special.   
He pulled a pair of white and yellow capris from his closet that his mom had bought him. They seemed sort of like sweat pants but he supposed he shouldn’t look too put together, it was summer vacation. He scoured his shirts and found most of them either dirty or his inspiration shirts he wore for practice. Neither seemed really appealing until he found a black v-neck t-shirt in his drawers. He pulled it on over his head and then grabbed a light sweatshirt that had yellow stripes on the torso that matched his pants. It had already been ten minutes by the time he popped in front of the mirror to double check his look. It was casual but looked alright he guessed. He wished he had time to spike his hair but Asahi had said he liked it down so he supposed this was alright too.   
He paced around the room for a moment unsure what to do. Asahi should be arriving any moment. However a few minutes later with no ring to his door bell left Nishinoya confused and worked up.   
Where was Asahi? Shouldn’t he be here now? Was he being stood up without any actual plans being made? Was this a prank? No Asahi wouldn’t do that. It went against his glass heart to be mean like that. So where was the gentle giant? Maybe he got lost? That was more Asahi’s style but surely his phone had GPS in it? Everyone’s phones had it now a days.   
Nishinoya grabbed his phone from where he had left it on the floor after his sprinted cleaning spree. He flipped it open and found another two messages from Asahi.   
“Ahh you didn’t answer I hope its okay to come over? Am I imposing?” and then just a moment or so ago, “I’m here and I’m not sure what to do since you haven’t answered. I don’t want to knock and be rude but I came all this way and I just really need to talk to you.”   
As Nishinoya read another message came through his phone from Asahi. He began walking towards his front door as he read it, “I also bought the soda flavored garigari you love so much. I hope it doesn’t melt before you answer.”   
Nishinoya swung his door open and stood there as Asahi stood on the other side of the gate at the end of his walkway to the street. It seemed the heat didn’t bother Asahi enough as he wore dark grey jeans and sneakers with a simply white button up shirt with his sleeves rolled up. His bun seemed looser today like he almost thought about leaving it down but thought differently and threw it up last minute.   
“The garigari will melt come on.” Nishinoya said throwing his thumb over his shoulder towards the air conditioned house.   
Asahi fumbled a moment holding up the bag as though that was the only thing coming inside before he nodded and cracked the gate open slipping inside and coming to stand before Nishinoya. The libero was hit all over again how tall and amazingly good looking Asahi was. Standing there before him, Nishinoya barely came up to his shoulder and, god was that cologne? Did Asahi always wear that or was this really something special?   
Nishinoya led the way inside trying to focus on being normal and not blurting out his undying feels to Asahi as they stood in the kitchen, Nishinoya stretching on toes a bit to put the garigari in the freezer. It was a little soft but not melted yet at least.   
Once he finished he turned to look at Asahi who stood there in the middle of the kitchen looking too large and out of place here. Nishinoya smiled and wanted to point it out but didn’t want to make Asahi even more nervous.   
“Ah... so Asahi-san you said you needed to talk to me? What’s going on?” Nishinoya asked leaning against the counter in the kitchen to come across a little more easy going.   
“Um... Is your family home? Could we go someplace more private?” Asahi asked twisting the strap of his bag that was across his chest.   
Nishinoya’s eyebrows flew up under his bangs in surprise. This really must be serious.   
“Uh yea sure. Is my bedroom okay? I mean no one is here though too. Whatever you need Asahi-san.” Nishinoya pushed away from the counter and stepped closer.   
Asahi seemed to waver a moment between staying put and taking a step back away from Nishinoya. After a breath of a moment he leaned forward and stayed still as a look of determination set on his face.   
“Y-your room if that is okay?” Asahi asked and Nishinoya could see him visibly swallow.   
“Sure, sure, do you want any drinks or snacks to go with us?” Nishinoya asked though he made no move to grab anything.   
Asahi shook his head anyway as Nishinoya imagined he would, loose hairs swinging with the movement.   
Nodding, Nishinoya moved forward and swept passed Asahi, guiding him to the back of the house and to his room. He was sure that his heartbeat in his chest was louder than his footsteps as he paused at the door and opened it allowing Asahi to go through first. The ace seemed to pause a moment before he took that step over the thresh hold and stepped inside. It was odd but almost surreal to see Asahi standing in the middle of Nishinoya’s room.   
Despite Nishinoya being the smallest member of his family, as the oldest he got the choice of the leftover rooms and even though this one was right off the dining room, he prefered it to the smaller ones upstairs. He had his bed in the corner near the windows and his desk sat at the foot of it with school papers scattered across. Then in the corner next to his closet was his television with a table near by for drinks and snacks. Asahi seemed to think that was as good of a place as any to settle and sat on the floor next to the low table. Nishinoya moved and sat just to the left of Asahi. Modest distance between them but if Nishinoya leaned over a bit he would be so close to feeling a first kiss.   
“N-Nishinoya!” Asahi had dropped his polite tone and seemed all business now.   
The libero straightened a bit where he sat with his legs folded in front of him, “Y-yes Asahi-san?!”   
“I... I wanted to give you the opportunity to talk to me. I... I know you’ve been trying to ask me something important the last couple times we were together but other things seemed to get in the way. I thought maybe if I reached out to you, we could get this straightened out for you.” Asahi mumbled seeming to lose conviction the more he spoke.   
“I hope I’m not assuming with this at least?” he finished glancing up at Nishinoya somehow seeming smaller than Nishinoya was at that moment.   
“O-Oh.” was all Nishinoya could seem to summon in that moment.   
This. This was really happening. Asahi was here. Sitting in his house alone with Nishinoya. There was no one here to ruin this. No messed up gifts, no fireworks, no ocean to carry precious team members away. No team members period to accident step in before certain words could be spoken.   
“No! This is perfect Asahi-san thank you for reaching out to me.” Nishinoya explained and now that this opportunity had risen he wasn’t sure how to make the words come together.   
“Ah... Um... Co-Could I maybe eat the garigari first? I... um... wasn’t exactly prepared to do this today… But, but I really want to so please be patient with me?” Nishinoya asked leaning on the table a bit not wanting any misunderstandings with this.   
“OH! Ah! Cer-Certainly! Please! I insist!” Asahi stuttered and gestured to the door.   
“You brought yourself a melon one too right? I’ll grab it for you, yea?” Nishinoya asked pausing by the door.   
“Um, yes please if you don’t mind?” Asahi asked looking like he might get up himself.   
Nishinoya nodded and darted off to the kitchen himself. He stood in front of the freezer for a long moment staring at the grocery bag. There were two garigari, one melon flavored and one soda flavored- Nishinoya’s favorite. Asahi always knew which ones to get, though Nishinoya supposed it wasn’t some huge secret. He wanted everyone to know how much he liked Asahi as well as he liked garigari. Of course he liked Asahi much more than garigari.   
He grabbed the ice snacks and headed back to his room after grabbing some napkins as well.   
“I’m back Asahi-san! Here is your melon, and my… soda!” he unveiled the snack and pulled the wrapper off before quickly biting off a chunk.   
Asahi opened his own and set the treat in his mouth, sucking on the tip for a bit before biting it off himself.   
They ate like that in silence and Nishinoya swore he didn’t try to do it but they ended up staring at each other. It wasn’t awkward though. It was easy and almost… appreciative? Nishinoya was struggling with his words as his brain started to malfunction, whether from Asahi or the ice cream was a mystery though. He was just about done when he felt some of the ice cream to begin running down his fingers. He frowned and broke the stare, turning his wrist to see the ice cream running down his skin. He moved to lick it away when Asahi’s hand shot out to grab his forearm.   
Nishinoya felt he rarely had these moments outside the gym, where everything became hyper focused, and there was nothing else in the world except him and Asahi and this ice cream drop running down his skin. Nishinoya watched with zeroed in vision as Asahi raised Nishinoya’s hand up to his mouth and there was a moment where Nishinoya was so certain that Asahi was going to lick that ice cream away from his skin himself. Even Asahi looked like that was what he was about to do. His eyes were lidded and his lips were parted just a bit. Then it seemed like something shattered and Asahi pushed the limb away from himself and grabbed one of the napkins on the table. He cleaned the skin there but Nishinoya could feel it through Asahi’s grasp. The sweat building on his palm and that unsteady heartbeat hammering out just as loudly as Nishinoya’s own heartbeat.   
Nishinoya’s tongue darted out and swiped across his lips to moisten them because everything was too much in that moment. There was too much heat between them and not enough air and it was so intense that if Nishinoya didn’t say something he really would explode in that moment.   
“Asahi-san, I’m going to tell you what I wanted to tell you for so long now. I think if I don’t I really might explode. I don’t want to scare you or alarm you but I think I really, really, really like you Asahi-san.” Nishinoya whispered the words as he leaned closer to Asahi.   
The gentle giant seemed nervous but the pink that was darkening to a red across his cheeks almost encouraged Nishinoya. Asahi really was just too adorable.   
“I... I um know Nishinoya, and I um... I. I want to tell you too. The words they just... “ Asahi was struggling so hard, trying to stay focused and say the words to Nishinoya that needed to be said.   
“Just... mm. Just kiss me if you can’t say it. I’ll understand.” Nishinoya grinned reassuringly.   
Asahi was always just a ball of nerves and never really confident in anything. However when Asahi leaned down a bit, pressed his lips, a little dry and chapped, warm and confident it was a testament to all the words his fragile glass heart couldn’t handle to speak. It was the emotions Nishinoya had felt for over a year, rolled into a moment of lips to lips and hearts to hearts.   
So even though the universe had tried so hard this summer to keep this from happening, and even though Nishinoya couldn’t stand melon or the summer heat, this summer turned out to be pretty fantastic.


End file.
